The primary aim of the following paper is to present theoretical assumptions of a translation/interpretation process which should be understood as an intercultural text interpretation activity. Great attention is put on the defining the role of a translator as a 'cultural mediator' and his/her significance in the entire text re-modulation process, which has an all-too-convincing effect on the locating proper source text equivalents in the target language culture. According to the authors, translator's incompetence and cultural incommensurability lie at the foundation of translational misfires (originally coined by Newmark,1 which is analysed as 'unexpected gifts') - a new sociolinguistic phenomenon existing within the Translation Studies. The 'unexpected gifts' are also viewed as a communicational value analyzed from the point of view of discourse studies, hence the direct influence of cultural, social, and situational embedding of a text on the translation/ interpretation activity is undisputable.
